Race car with character ejector

ABSTRACT

A toy racing car can be propelled via various manners, including, for example, a pull-back recoil mechanism, a remote-control driven battery powered mechanism, or the like. The toy car can include one or more activators that, when activated by an impact against another object, eject the “driver” in the car or a portion thereof, such as a head that extends from the toy car.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

Embodiments of the invention relates generally to toys. Moreparticularly, the invention relates to a toy vehicle, such as a racecar, that includes a character in the car that can be ejected therefromupon an impact.

2. Description of Prior Art and Related Information

The following background information may present examples of specificaspects of the prior art (e.g., without limitation, approaches, facts,or common wisdom) that, while expected to be helpful to further educatethe reader as to additional aspects of the prior art, is not to beconstrued as limiting the present invention, or any embodiments thereof,to anything stated or implied therein or inferred thereupon.

Race cars are well known, popular toys for children. There are currentlyno known toy cars that can be either internally propelled orself-propelled and include an action that ejects the character in thecar, or a portion thereof, upon impact.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some embodiments of the present invention are illustrated as an exampleand are not limited by the figures of the accompanying drawings, inwhich like references may indicate similar elements.

FIGS. 1 through 6 illustrates a various embodiments of a toy caraccording to n exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates the toy car from FIGS. 1 through 6 with the actuatoractivated to release the character from the car, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 shows a side view of a toy car, with the body removed forclarity, with the character head engaged therein according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 shows a perspective view of the toy car of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 shows a top view of the toy car of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 shows a top view, including the body of the top car, of the toycar of FIG. 8;

FIG. 12 shows a bottom view of an exemplary embodiment of the characterusable in the car of FIG. 8;

FIG. 13 shows an exemplary method of using the toy car according toembodiments of the present invention; and

FIG. 14 shows the use of a remote control by a user, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Unless otherwise indicated illustrations in the figures are notnecessarily drawn to scale.

The invention and its various embodiments can now be better understoodby turning to the following detailed description wherein illustratedembodiments are described. It is to be expressly understood that theillustrated embodiments are set forth as examples and not by way oflimitations on the invention as ultimately defined in the claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS AND BEST MODE OFINVENTION

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of oneor more of the associated listed items. As used herein, the singularforms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms aswell as the singular forms, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, and/orcomponents, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or moreother features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groupsthereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by onehaving ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Itwill be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonlyused dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and thepresent disclosure and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overlyformal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

In describing the invention, it will be understood that a number oftechniques and steps are disclosed. Each of these has individual benefitand each can also be used in conjunction with one or more, or in somecases all, of the other disclosed techniques. Accordingly, for the sakeof clarity, this description will refrain from repeating every possiblecombination of the individual steps in an unnecessary fashion.Nevertheless, the specification and claims should be read with theunderstanding that such combinations are entirely within the scope ofthe invention and the claims.

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It will be evident, however, toone skilled in the art that the present invention may be practicedwithout these specific details.

The present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of theinvention, and is not intended to limit the invention to the specificembodiments illustrated by the figures or description below.

As is well known to those skilled in the art, many carefulconsiderations and compromises typically must be made when designing forthe optimal configuration of a commercial implementation of any device,and in particular, the embodiments of the present invention. Acommercial implementation in accordance with the spirit and teachings ofthe present invention may be configured according to the needs of theparticular application, whereby any aspect(s), feature(s), function(s),result(s), component(s), approach(es), or step(s) of the teachingsrelated to any described embodiment of the present invention may besuitably omitted, included, adapted, mixed and matched, or improvedand/or optimized by those skilled in the art, using their average skillsand known techniques, to achieve the desired implementation thataddresses the needs of the particular application.

Broadly, embodiments of the present invention provide a toy racing carthat can be propelled via various manners, including, for example, apull-back recoil mechanism, a remote-control driven battery poweredmechanism, or the like. The toy car can include one or more activatorsthat, when activated by an impact against another object, eject the“driver” in the car or a portion thereof, such as a head that extendsfrom the toy car.

FIGS. 1 through 6 illustrate various embodiments of the toy car. The car10 can include a car base 12, a plurality of wheels 14 and a character16 extending from inside the car, where the character may appear to be adriver of the car. The character may be an entire character, with itsbody inside the car base 12, or may be a character head that is visiblyextending above the car base 12.

While various animals are shown as the character 16, other elements maybe used in place of the character, including sport team items (logos,mascots, helmets, or the like), geometric or non-geometric shapes,flowers, plants, fruits, vegetables, or the like. In other words, anyitem may be placed in the car base 12 so that it extends thereabove.

While a car is shown and described herein, the toy may be any movableitem. In some embodiments, the toy may include various wheeled items,including trucks, buses, tricycles, motorcycles, trains, airplanes orthe like. While only one character is shown in the toy, in someembodiments, multiple characters may be deployed in the vehicle.

An ejector 20 can be positioned, as shown in the figures, at the frontof the vehicle. The ejector 20, when depressed, can release aspring-loaded mechanism (or other resiliently potential energy storagedevice) that causes the character 16 to be expelled from the toy asshown in FIG. 7. While the figures show the ejector 20 at the front ofthe vehicle, one or more ejectors may be used and may be positioned atvarious places, including the front, sides, rear, top or the like. Insome embodiments, the ejector 20 may be an internal mechanism designedto detect a predetermined level of shock to the toy, where once thispredetermined level of shock is exceeded, the character 16 may beejected from the toy.

As discussed above, the toy can include multiple characters, such as ina bus or train configuration. In some embodiments, the ejector 20 may bedesigned to detect the amount of force applied (or the amount of shock)and release a certain number of characters, dependent on this detectedamount.

The toy cars, or other vehicles, may be moved by various mechanisms. Inone embodiments, a pull-back recoil type device may be incorporated inthe car base such that, when the wheels are turned backwards (such as bypulling back the car on a surface), the car may propel itself forwardbased on energy stored during the pulling back of the car. In otherembodiments, the cars may be free-wheeling, where the user can simplypush the cars on a surface. In other embodiments, the cars may bepowered by, for example, a battery, and may be driven by remote controlby various methods as are known in the art, as illustrated in FIG. 14.In some embodiments, each toy may be driven by its own remote control sothat multiple toys may be independently operated by the user's remotecontrol.

The cars may be designed for use on race tracks, including both poweredand unpowered race tracks. For example, in a powered race track, thecars may be designed to only advance when the character is presenttherein. If an impact ejects the character from the car, the car willstop moving on the track until the user can replace the character. Ofcourse, other uses for the toy cars are contemplated within the scope ofthe present invention.

In some embodiments, when the character 16 is ejected from the toy,another action may be triggered. This action may include a sound effect,a lighting effect or the like. In some embodiments, multiple ejectors 20may be employed where one of the ejectors 20 ejects the character 16from the toy, while other ejectors 20 create a different effect.

While FIG. 7 illustrates complete removal of the character 16 from thecar, in some embodiments, the character 16 may be tethered to the car,where, upon actuation of the ejector 20, the character 16 may be ejectedfrom the car, but a cord, spring, bungee, or the like, may keep thecharacter 16 from being fully detached from the car base 12.

In some embodiments, the characters 16, such as the character headsshown in the Figures, may be configured in a single unit. In otherembodiments, the character may separate in a plurality of pieces ifejected from the toy and allowed to strike a surface. In thisembodiment, the user is motivated to catch the ejected character fromthe car prior to letting it land on a surface and separate into itscomponents. Of course, other methods of play with the toy as may beenvisioned by one skil led in the art are contemplated within the scopeof the present invention.

FIGS. 8 through 12 illustrate one possible configuration for permittingthe actuator 20 to disengage the character 16 from the car base 12. InFIGS. 8, 9 and 10, the body of the car base 12 is removed for clarity.As discussed above, the actuator 20 may extend outside the car base 12at various locations, such as the front of the toy car 10, as shown inFIGS. 8-10. The actuator may be movable via a slot 24 cut therein, wherea pin 26 on the car bas extends in the slot 24. The length of the slot24 defines the maximum movement of the actuator 20.

An arm 22 can extend from the actuator to the interior of the toy car10. The arm 22 can terminate at an upstanding member 32. The upstandingmember 32 can have a central member 28 that may be resiliently moved bythe arm 22 when the actuator 20 is depressed. A step 30 on the centralmember 28 may extend outward, generally orthogonal to the direction ofextension of the upstanding member 32. (which is upward, away from asurface supporting the wheels of the toy car),

As shown in FIG. 12, the character can include a head portion 40 and anextension tube 42 extending from the head portion. An opening 44 may beformed at the bottom of the extension tube 42 to provide access therein.The opening 44 may be shaped to receive the upstanding member 32therein. A spring 48 may be enclosed in the opening and may have adiameter larger than the opening 44, to prevent the spring 48 from beingremoved therefrom.

A shaped step 46 may be formed to receive the step 30 of the centralmember 28. In some embodiments, as the character is slid onto theupstanding member 32, the spring 48 is depressed and the central member28 is resilient bent inward. Once the character is fully inserted ontothe upstanding member, the step 30 may be positioned inside theextension tube 42, causing the central member 28 to resiliently revertto its unbent position, where the step 30 engages with the shaped step46 of the extension tube 42. In this configuration, the character is“locked” into the car. When the actuator 20 is depressed, the art 22depressed the central member 28 inward (toward the back of the vehicle),causing the step 30 of the central member 28 to disengage from theshaped step 46 of the bottom of the extension tube 42. The spring 48 maythen recoil, causing the character to be ejected from the car, as shownin FIG. 13, for example.

Claim elements and steps herein may have been numbered and/or letteredsolely as an aid in readability and understanding. Any such numberingand lettering in itself is not intended to and should not be taken toindicate the ordering of elements and/or steps in the claims.

Many alterations and modifications may be made by those having ordinaryskill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention. Therefore, it must be understood that the illustratedembodiments have been set forth only for the purposes of examples andthat they should not be taken as limiting the invention as defined bythe following claims. For example, notwithstanding the fact that theelements of a claim are set forth below in a certain combination, itmust be expressly understood that the invention includes othercombinations of fewer, more or different ones of the disclosed elements.

The words used in this specification to describe the invention and itsvarious embodiments are to be understood not only in the sense of theircommonly defined meanings, but to include by special definition in thisspecification the generic structure, material or acts of which theyrepresent a single species.

The definitions of the words or elements of the following claims are,therefore, defined in this specification to not only include thecombination of elements which are literally set forth. In this sense itis therefore contemplated that an equivalent substitution of two or moreelements may be made for any one of the elements in the claims below orthat a single element may be substituted for two or more elements in aclaim. Although elements may be described above as acting in certaincombinations and even initially claimed as such, it is to be expresslyunderstood that one or more elements from a claimed combination can insome cases be excised from the combination and that the claimedcombination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of asubcombination.

Insubstantial changes from the claimed subject matter as viewed by aperson with ordinary skill in the art, now known or later devised, areexpressly contemplated as being equivalently within the scope of theclaims. Therefore, obvious substitutions now or later known to one withordinary skill in the art are defined to be within the scope of thedefined elements. The claims are thus to be understood to include whatis specifically illustrated and described above, what is conceptuallyequivalent, what can be obviously substituted and also what incorporatesthe essential idea of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A toy as herein shown and described.